January 30, 2023
Dear Branson Alumni,
As you have heard in previous communications from Chris Mazzola, our Head of School, the Branson administration and the Board of Trustees have taken on the important work of partnering with survivors of sexual abuse at Branson and interested alumni to ensure that abuse never takes place at Branson again.
As Chris outlined in previous letters, in 2021-22, the school spent a year engaging in a healing and reconciliation process with one survivor and some alumni. In addition, since the release of the Covington report in 2019, the school has spent a great deal of time and energy putting the best, most relevant policies, practices, and training into place to keep every student at Branson safe and protected from abuse of any kind. The end product of that work (which will continue to be updated and changed as needed) can be found on our website here. The school updates this page regularly with new information, so please use it as a reference when seeking information about student safety at Branson.
Since 2019, all faculty, staff, coaches, students, and parents have engaged in education and training about the prevention of sexual abuse and the reporting of sexual abuse. This year, the Board of Trustees will now undergo similar training for the first time to ensure that each board member has a clear understanding of current best practices regarding sex abuse prevention in schools.
To echo a similar invitation extended by Chris several months ago, The Board of Trustees would like to invite you, our Branson community, to participate in the planning of “Legacy Projects and Events,” which is the follow-up work to the healing and reconciliation work done in 2021-22. The next meeting of the group is February 11, from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, on campus. If you are interested in participating or learning more, please reach out and let us know at the following email address: healing@jjlsrq.com and we will be back in touch with more information.
Sincerely,
Quoc Tran, Chair of the Board
Liz Hume, Board Member
Celia Golden, Board Member
On behalf of the Branson Board of Trustees